ACA joins Christmas tender campaign
The ACA is once again pleased to join Consult Australia’s End of Year Tender campaign, which advocates for a pause in new procurement activities over the Christmas break to prioritise the mental wellbeing of all.
“Collaborative advocacy is a high priority for the ACA and we are delighted to join the Consult Australia tender campaign for another year in 2024. We recognise that systemic issues contribute to long hours and extended periods of work without rest, with major negative impacts on the wellbeing of everyone in architecture practice, particularly practice leaders. Collectively, we need to disrupt the system and prioritise the wellbeing of all.”— Angelina Pillai, ACA CEO
Mental wellbeing in practice has been an important focus for the ACA for many years, with key initiatives including the development of the Architects Mental Wellbeing Forum, a discounted EAP service for members and the regular distribution of advice, profiles and resources.
We were proud to partner with the Wellbeing of Architects team on their groundbreaking wellbeing research over the last three years (including sharing the Guides to Wellbeing in Architecture Practice) and were very pleased to join Consult Australia’s Christmas Tender campaign in 2023 and now again in 2024.
What is the tender campaign?
Pause for Wellbeing is Consult Australia’s annual tender campaign calling on government clients to prioritise mental health and wellbeing by pausing all live procurement tenders over the end-of-year holiday period. In 2024, the industry is calling on clients to respect a tender pause for wellbeing between Monday 16 December 2024 and Monday 6 January 2025.
It had been common practice for government clients to release live procurement tenders over December/January. To meet the timelines, industry participants often needed to work over the period without a break – despite agencies observing government shut-down periods.
As part of the campaign, Consult Australia asks clients, as partners in the delivery of infrastructure and built environment projects, to support and commit to providing the whole industry with an uninterrupted rest during the end-of-year holiday period. This supports the health and wellbeing of the people who work across projects, which is vital.
“The End of Year Tender Initiative is essentially a simple ask – for government to pause new procurement activity over the end of year holiday period so that industry can have a break while public servants also have a break.
We started the initiative in 2018, with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads being the first client to agree to the pause and also change its procurement policy from then on. Over the intervening years the initiative has gained significant traction.
We currently capture over 100 government agencies across Australia in the initiative, which is a significant expansion from the first year when we focused on TMR in Queensland.
I am pleased that the initiative’s profile is such that many government agencies now proactively inform us of their tender shut-down dates!
We remain committed to putting a pause on all procurement activities over the end of year holiday period to allow the people in our industry to take a well-deserved breather and to promoting the importance of disconnecting from work.”— Jonathan Cartledge, Consult Australia CEO
For more information on the annual tender campaign, see our Five Question interview with Jonathan Cartledge or visit Consult Australia’s Mental Health Knowledge Hub.